An aircraft can generate considerable noise during a landing approach. A significant portion of this noise is attributable to air flowing around the deployed landing gear. Although the aircraft may be travelling at around 80 m/s during the landing sequence, the localised airflow around a noise-inducing component or region of the landing gear may reach speeds of around 300 m/s, which can result in considerable noise. This is known in the art, and will be referred to herein, as aeroacoustic noise. Aeroacoustic noise is particularly undesirable because of the fact that airports are often located close to cities, or other densely populated areas.
Attempts have been made to address aeroacoustic noise problems. For example, it is known to provide an aircraft landing gear with fairings. A fairing is a generally rigid structure, usually made from metal or composite materials, arranged to shield a noise-inducing region of an aircraft landing gear from airflow during landing. However, the present inventors have identified that known noise reducing devices, such as fairings, can undesirably increase the total envelope and/or weight of the landing gear and/or may affect articulation of the landing gear for stowage.